Iowa Blue facts for kids

The Iowa Blue is a special kind of chicken. It first appeared in the early 1900s near Decorah, Iowa, in the United States. Even though its name has "Blue" in it, this chicken isn't really blue by chicken standards. It's a very rare bird. The Iowa Blue is not officially recognized for chicken shows by the American Poultry Association. These chickens are known as "dual-purpose" birds. This means they are good for two things: laying brown eggs and providing meat. They are also great at finding their own food.

History of the Iowa Blue Chicken

The exact start of the Iowa Blue chicken is a bit of a mystery. There's a folk legend about how it came to be. This story says that a White Leghorn hen and a pheasant mated. However, this is very unlikely. Leghorns are small birds that lay white eggs. Pheasants are also a different type of bird.

Why Iowa Blues Are Special

Iowa Blues are quite unique among newer chicken breeds. They look a bit like grey junglefowl in how they stand and sound. They also have good traits for laying eggs and growing, similar to older breeds like the Black Java. The Iowa Blue has never been officially recognized by big chicken groups. These include the American Poultry Association or the American Bantam Association.

Saving a Rare Breed

In the 1960s, some hatcheries in Iowa sold these chickens. But later, these places either closed or stopped selling them. Because of this, the Iowa Blue almost disappeared completely. Luckily, some people who really loved the breed worked hard to keep them going. Thanks to them, the Iowa Blue still exists today, though there are not many of them. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy lists the Iowa Blue as "Study." This means it's a breed they are interested in protecting. However, they need more information about it to give it a firm conservation status.

Characteristics of Iowa Blue Chickens

Iowa Blues are known as "dual-purpose" chickens. This means they are good for both meat and eggs. Male Iowa Blues usually weigh about 7 pounds. Hens weigh around 6 pounds. This size makes them good for meat production.

Egg Laying and Foraging

Hens lay a good number of brown eggs. They also tend to go broody, which means they like to sit on and hatch their eggs. Iowa Blues are excellent foragers. This means they are good at finding their own food, like bugs and plants, when they are allowed to roam freely. They do very well in free range conditions.

Temperament and Appearance

These chickens can be a little bit shy or skittish sometimes. Male Iowa Blues are known to be great protectors of their flock. They are especially good at fighting off birds like hawks. The breed has red earlobes and a single comb on their head.

Unique Color Pattern

Iowa Blues come in only one color pattern. This pattern is not the "blue" color that chicken experts usually describe. Their head is a silvery white. The rest of their body feathers are dark brown or black with white edges, which is called "lacing." The back of the roosters is also white. This overall color pattern is technically called "penciling." When Iowa Blues are bred with other chickens, like White Plymouth Rocks or New Hampshires, they can produce special "sex-linked" chicks. This means you can tell if the chick is male or female just by its color when it hatches.